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Carrots and…Smaller Carrots? The Values Dilemma! Food for Thought by Patrick Jackson

In Dublin we have an anti-littering campaign with posters that read ‘Litter is disgusting and so are those responsible’.  I’d hazard that the tagline has no effect at all on the littering population who are brazen enough to throw litter on the streets. I doubt any one of them gives a flying fig about what a poster like this says. Maybe the aim of the campaign is to galvanize anti-litter opinion rather than to help people who drop trash to quit their disgusting habit. There’s another campaign on the subway in Japan at the moment that explicitly shows anti-social behaviour and the irritation levels of people around. The culprits listen to loud music on their headphones, take up too much space, queue barge or sit on the floor of the carriage (a cardinal sin in Japan usually practiced by high school girls). Their anti-social behaviour is shown as ultra-violet or even viral perhaps, altering the colour of the offended parties to a furnace-like red. This is a culture where the concept of avoiding ‘meiwaku’ (disturbing or annoying others) is way stronger than in Dublin. I guess all cultures have their own subtly different means of getting the message across. As a parent Read full article »